Our Faculty & Staff
Center Directors: Dr. Ann McCleary and Dr. Keith Hebert
One of the primary goals of the Center is to provide an opportunity for faculty-student research projects. Each semester, graduate students, working as Graduate Research Assistants, coordinate research projects, with help from undergraduate research assistants and interns. Students receive hands-on experience by directing projects and conducting primary research.
The Center invites any students--graduate or undergraduate--to consider an internship at the Center. Please contact either Dr. McCleary or Dr. Hebert for current internship opportunities.
Fall 2010 Staff
Dan Cone
Dan Cone is a second-year graduate student at the University of West Georgia, working towards a Public History degree. He received his B.A., cum laude, at Presbyterian College in 1999. A long-time volunteer for the National Park Service, Dan recently worked as a seasonal interpretive ranger at Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park (May – September, 2010). His master’s thesis will focus on Georgia conscripts in the Atlanta Campaign. Currently, he is researching the history of Catoosa Springs, Georgia.
Donna Butler
Donna Butler is an intern this semester in the Center for Public History. She will be working with Dr. McCleary to prepare an administrative history for the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site near Hendersonville, NC. While she is "re-careering" at this time, her background includes extensive experience in adult, continuing, and community education, higher education, and association management. She holds graduate degrees in curriculum and instruction (University of New Orleans), social work (UGA), and nonprofit organizations (UGA). Her undergraduate degree in history is from Siena Heights College in Michigan. Donna's areas of interest include U.S., World War II, and women’s history.
Keri Adams
.BMP)
Keri Adams has a BA in Art History with a minor in Anthropology from the University of West Georgia. She is currently pursuing her MA in Public History along with a certificate in Museum Studies. Keri has been working with the Sewell Mill exhibit in downtown Bremen. The exhibit focuses on the history of the Mill and the Sewell Family.
Sarah Foreman
.jpg)
Sarah Foreman currently pursuing her MA in Public History with a certificate in Museum Studies. Sarah is the coordinator for the New Harmonies project. New Harmonies is a traveling Smithsonian exhibit. In Georgia, New Harmonies will travel to 12 communities (Americus, Bremen, Calhoun, Darien, LaGrange, Moultrie, Madison, Nashville, Perry, Thomson, Toccoa, and Waycross) highlighting the unique story of Georgia's musical traditions. New Harmonies highlights distinct types of American roots music including blues, country, folk, gospel, Native American, and sacred harp. She has been diligently working on the New Harmonies website which will debut on August 6. 2012. The New Harmonies exhibit will be visiting Bremen, GA from February 9 through March 23, 2013.
Susan Frohlich
Susan Frohlich has a BA in History with a minor in Business Administration from Erskine College in South Carolina. She is currently pursing her MA in Public History with a certificate in Museum Studies. Susan is the historian and development coordinator for the West Georgia Textile Heritage Trail project. The Textile Heritage Trail plans to connect cities of West Georgia from Lagrange to Dalton along Highway 27. The purpose of this project is to promote heritage tourism and economic development by giving tourists a chance to explore the textile history of the region and spend money in local restaurants, hotels, and shopping areas.
Matt Harris.jpg)
Growing up west of Atlanta, Matt Harris is unable to recall a time when history was not a part of his life. To him, it seemed like history was encountered every day around every corner. These daily occurrences generated a desire in him to explore the past on a deeper level and to share his experience with others. He attended Auburn University with the intention of becoming a history teacher. His passion for history manifested itself during a course in the American Civil Rights Movement and, with the guidance of David Carter, he completed his undergraduate work in 2004 with a thesis covering the involvement of white Alabama ministers in the movement. He began the graduate program at West Georgia in the fall of 2009 and is currently pursuing a master's degree as well as the Public History Certificate.
Matt is currently involved in the inventory process at the Williams-Mitchell Farm, a historic farm that is being transformed into a house museum and a public park. He and intern Chuck Lott are completing an evaluation and inventory of the various rooms and objects presently in the house. The team also has the pleasure of recording the memories associated with the house through weekly interactions and interviews with Dr. William Mitchell, whose family has owned the land for over 175 years. Matt has enjoyed the excitement of digging through the past within the walls of the farmhouse while also helping to fulfill Dr. Mitchell's dream of a house museum and says that the experience will be one that he will cherish and remember no matter where his career leads. After graduation, Matt intends to pursue a PhD while also seeking employment in the public side of the field.
Mollie Marlow 
Mollie Marlow is a second-year history major who graduated from Alexander High School in May of 2010. She plans on continuing her education on to graduate school in order to work in Public History as a career. She is currently working on the New Harmonies project for the Center for Public History as an Undergraduate Research Assistant.
Lauren Miller
Jennifer Reid
Jennifer Reid has a BA in History with a concentration in secondary education and a minor in German from the University of West Georgia. She is currently pursuing her MA in Public History with a certificate in Museum Studies. Jennifer is the assistant director of the Center for Public History and is also the research assistant for the Regional Music Project CD, God was in us, ‘Cause we Sung, a compilation of local African-American singers performing traditional shape-note hymns.
Sam Stokes
Sam Stokes is a transfer student from Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga. He is a junior at West Georgia majoring in History with a minor in Secondary Education and hopes to go on to graduate school to pursue a master’s degree. Currently, Sam is working on digitizing the Public History Center's oral interviews, with a focus on the ones pertaining to the Great Depression Era South, and is putting them on the Center’s Youtube page. The project involves editing the audio interviews into short clips and finding photographs pertaining to the particular topic and then putting them together into a video. Sam’s career goal is teaching high school history.
Jennifer Teeter
Jennifer Teeter has a BFA in Drawing and Painting with a concentration in Museums Studies from Brenau University. She is currently pursing her MA in Public History with a certificate in Museums Studies. Jennifer is the historian and web developer for the Leake Interpretive Trail and Tour Website. The Leake Site Website Project is creating an interactive experience for visitors to the Leake Site trail in Bartow County. The website, accessible by mobile phone, will feature audio and visual content from the Creek Nation, descendants of the site's original inhabitants. In addition to the multimedia featured on the website, a walking tour podcast will be available for download. While the Leake Site has been largely industrialized, visitors will now have the chance to learn about the peoples, culture, and archaeology that make this location significant.
Jessica West
.BMP)
Jessica West has a BA in History with a minor in American Studies from Kennesaw State University. She is currently pursuing her MA in Public History with a certificate in Museum Studies. Jessica is the historian and film producer for the West Georgia Sacred Music Documentary. The documentary film on the Southern gospel music tradition in the west Georgia region is going to incorporate video, interviews, oral histories, gospel and sacred harp performances. The film is going to examine the importance and influence that the oldest forms of folk music, gospel and sacred harp, have on the west Georgia region, as well as its people. The film will be debuted in March 2013 with the opening of the New Harmonies exhibit in Bremen, Georgia.
Hiwote Woldesellassie
Hiwote Woldesellassie is a senior at the University of West Georgia and majoring in Psychology. She enjoys helping people, traveling, and learning new things. Hiwote works at the Center for Public History as a Digital Georgia archivist. At this point in time, she is organizing and updating the Oral History Project database.